The family of the Stockholm suicide bomber is blaming Britain for his transformation into an al-Qaeda Islamic terrorist

Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, an Iraqi immigrant, showed little interest in religion as he was growing up in Sweden, but after he began attending Bedfordshire University in Luton he became a strict Muslim with increasingly extremist views, even naming his baby son Osama in honor of the al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden. His life ended when he blew himself up in a street full of Christmas shoppers in Sweden’s first suicide attack, after recording a message which promised to kill “your children, daughters, brothers and sisters”. Abdulwahab’s radicalization during his time in Luton once again raises questions over whether British universities are doing enough to stamp out Islamic extremism on campus. There are fears that Abdulwahab, 28, could have radicalized dozens of students after it was claimed that he preached at his old university in 2007. Iraqi-born Abdulwahab, who killed himself the day before his 29th birthday, grew up in the small town of Tranas, south of Stockholm. Abdulwahab graduated from Bedfordshire University with a physical therapy degree in 2004, the same year that he got married. He worked in a shop in Luton and began preaching his Islamist extremist views at the Luton Islamic Center, also known as the Al Ghurabaa mosque. Even though Muslims at the mosque knew about his Islamic extremist views they did not pass on their concerns about Abdulwahab to the police. A couple of years ago the Center for Social Cohesion think tank warned in a report called Islam on Campus that radical Islam was increasingly taking hold in British universities, with a third of Muslim students who were questioned saying killing in the name of religion was justified. Police and the security services have been concerned for years that British universities have become a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists. Abdulwahab travelled to Syria a couple of years ago, where it is believed he was trained in explosive techniques. He told his family he had travelled to the Middle East to find work. Prosecutors in Sweden believe his bombs – which injured two bystanders – detonated prematurely, saving Stockholm shoppers from the carnage he intended.

Related:

Does polygamy raise or lower IQ?